Authors: Lori Leach, Ben Walters
Year: 2019
Event: 2019 TheMHS Conference
Subject: book of proceedings
Type of resource: Conference Presentations and Papers
ISBN: 9780994570260
Abstract: Paper from the 2019 TheMHS Conference by Lori Leach and Ben Walters. Published as part of the 2019 Book of Proceedings.
Biography:
Lori is Principal Project Officer at the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Learning and currently leads the
Sentinel Events Review team which specialises in risk assessment and management training. Lori is
concurrently a University of Queensland staff associate with 15 years’ experience in health communication
and patient safety research.
A number of fatal sentinel events involving persons with a known or suspected mental illness have been
reported in Queensland in recent years. While the number is very low, the effects of these events are
devastating for the victims, families, the community and the perpetrators. This paper reports on a training
development project to advance violence risk assessment and response in mental health services to support
positive consumer and carer outcomes. The project was sponsored by the Queensland Health Mental
Health and Alcohol and Other Drugs Branch and conducted by the Queensland Centre for Mental Health
Learning. Throughout the project key stakeholders met and discussed: the review and development of
training courses and evaluation proposals; project progress; and how training would support clinical
engagement with consumers who pose a risk of violence and promote timely comprehensive assessment
and response. Collaborative engagement between these agencies informed directions for the review and
development of training for a pilot implementation and evaluation phase, and training course finalisation.
Statewide roll out of the training courses will support clinicians apply a prevention-oriented approach to
violence risk assessment and response.
Learning Objectives
Learning Objective 1: Understand how the collaborative relationship between policy developers and clinical
education developers informs health professional training and education and how this improves consumer
outcomes downstream.
Learning Objective 2: Gain awareness of how Queensland Centre for Mental Health Learning training
modification and development supports clinicians in their application of the Violence risk assessment and
management framework – mental health services (the Framework) to practice. The presentation will
include an overview of the project (its aims, process and outcomes), a brief introduction to the Framework,
and an overview of the training courses that support clinician understanding of their role.
References
Ogloff, J. R. (2006). The violent client: advances in violence risk assessment. Australian Psychological Society.
Retrieved from https://www.psychology.org.au/publications/inpsych/risk/
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